German-American Discourse on Politics and Culture

April 30, 2015

Germany's "most-admired" ex-chancellor Helmut Schmidt chain-smoked his way through a one-hour interview with Sandra Maischberger on German TV the other night (video can be accessed through the ARD Mediathek). Once again he showed himself to be a reliable "Putin-Versteher" and he had nothing good to say about the United States, making disparaging comments about President Obama. and even trashing his former role model ("Vorbild") John F. Kennedy. In the interview, Schmidt was emphatic that Putin is not wanting war ("kein Kriegstreiber") despite the fact that he has been sending troops and heavy weapons into eastern Ukraine. And he pointed out that the United States is every bit as "dangerous" as Russia. The entire crisis in the Ukraine is, in Schmidt's view, the fault of the European Union, which "stupidly" and "childishly" extended its borders into Eastern Europe:

There was little sympathy or understanding for the people of Poland and the Baltic States and their aspirations to be part of the west - as if the EU imposed its will on these countries.

But let's face it: the man is 96 years old and has been poisoning himself with nicotine for most of his life. He seemed in a foul mood, complaining about the influx of immigrants into Germany ("we used to call them "guest workers" -Gastarbeiter") and even went into a rant about there being far too many human beings on the planet.

"Carter's diary portrays the Hamburg-born politician as a mercurial grouch, at one moment annoying his American colleagues with lectures on global economics, and then making himself scarce when the US needed his help. According to Carter's notes, Schmidt "acted like a paranoid child," and he was upset on several occasions by Schmidt's "unbelievable" behavior toward him. For example, in early 1978, Carter wrote: "Schmidt seems to go up and down in his psychological attitude. I guess women are not the only ones that have periods."

And even back then, as Carter recalls, Schmidt was eager to appease the Russians:

And when it came to the Soviet Union, the two countries couldn't reach a common position either. As Carter noted in his diary on January 5, 1979: "I was impressed and concerned by the attitude of Helmut toward appeasing the Soviets."

April 28, 2015

How appropriate. On the day Deutsche Bank announces a radical restructuring of its business, Jürgen Fitschen, the bank's co-CEO, appears in a Munich court on charges of lying under oath:

"Adding to the damage, Mr. Fitschen, the co-chief executive, must appear in court in Munich on Tuesday with four former top managers of Deutsche Bank to stand trial on charges they gave false testimony in a civil suit. The lawsuit was brought by a German media company that accused the bank of driving it into bankruptcy."

But lying to authorities has been the modus operandi of Deutsche Bank, at least since the era of former CEO Kurt Ackermann. The bank lied about its role in the LIBOR manipulation scheme and then actively obstructed the ensuing investigation. The bank will pay $2.5 billion in punitive fines just in connection with the LIBOR scandal. In fact, the bank has been forced to pay out more in fines and legal fees than it has raised in new capital over the past 5 years.

Gone are the days when Deutsche Bank dreamed of joining the ranks of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley as a Wall Street powerhouse:

Deutsche Bank ranks sixth worldwide measured by investment banking revenue. The top five are all based in the United States: JPMorgan, Goldman, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Citigroup. In the United States market alone, Deutsche Bank is a mere ninth among investment banks.

Roy C. Smith, a professor at the Stern School of Business at New York University, said that Deutsche Bank’s best hope to compete with its American rivals would be to split off the investment banking activities. But that was not the plan presented on Monday..

(Sure, bankers (both male and female) are usually well-groomed and well-dressed. They hardly look like your average drug dealer or human trafficker, rockers or other shady characters. But looks can be deceptive. Under prevailing understanding of German law, it is sufficient to assume organized crime exists with the deliberate commitment of crimes. Another interpretation refers to the concept of criminal organizations - groups with a "formal structure". One could assume the imposition of power as a critical component of organized crime, carried out by criminals in concert with other criminals or members of a social elite. With respect to the second variation, organized crime is a systemic condition, characterized by the corruption of the constitutional order with the collusion of the underworld, economy and political structure. In particular, the "model" of Deutsche Bank inspires a more intensive discussion of the concept of "organized crime.")

If found guilty of giving false testimony, Herr Fitschen faces years in prison. If there were true justice, he would be joined in prison by his co-CEO, Anshu Jain, who ran Deutsche Bank's investment banking division during the period when criminal behavior was widespread.

April 22, 2015

I have no idea who is behind the the "news" magazine and Web site Hintergrund (in English "Background") but it seems to take its editorial direction from Putin's RTDeutsch. While most conspiracy fans have moved on to other (CIA or Mossad-orchestrated) conspiracies (Charlie Hebdo, MH17, assassination of Nemzov, etc,), Russian media remains fixated on the idea that the CIA (with or without Israel) was behind the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center.

So it comes as no surprise that the current issue of Hintergrund features an interview with the architect and charlatan Richard Gage, who, for years has made a nice living giving lectures around the world on how the Twin Towers were brought down by explosives - not airplanes.

In the interview, Gage presents himself as a professional architect and engineer ("denn wir sind schließlich keine kriminalistischen Ermittler, sondern Architekten und Ingenieure") and demurs when asked who was responsible for exploding the towers:

April 19, 2015

Traditionally, Germany's Christian Democrats (CDU), the party of Angela Merkel, have been closely aligned with the Republican Party. Merkel even supported (initially) George W. Bush and the US invasion of Iraq. Since becoming chancellor, however, Angela Merkel and her party have staked out a number of progressive positions - embracing renewable energy, implementing a minimum wage, fighting intolerance against immigrants, just to name a few - while the Republican Party has moved further to the extreme right, becoming the Party of Jefferson Davis.

- See more at: http://www.germandailynews.com/bericht-53161/cdu-unterstuetzt-hillary-clinton.html#sthash.lH94eq1y.dpuf

(After Hillary Clinton announced that she's running for president as the Democratic candidate, the CDU decided to abandon its traditional orientation with the conservative Republicans. "The fundamental message of the GOP is today no longer aligned with the Christian Democratic principles, " said Armin Laschet, leaders of the CDU in North-Rhine Westphalia and deputy chairman of the national party. "The Republicans fight against the social market economy; on the one hand they demand tax breaks for the super-wealthy while on the other they seek to eliminate universal health insurance. Their aggressive rejection of multilateral diplomacy for resolving international conflicts is not appropriate for the 21st century. [...] In the last presidential election the Republicans were only able to achieve a majority among older white men. Immigrants, women and younger voters went with the Democrats.")

While this shift in support from a traditional European ally may be disappointing to some in the GOP, they can still count on support in France from Marine Le Pen's neo-fascist Front National, whose anti-immigrant program mirrors the GOP platform.

April 12, 2015

In his important new book Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis, Robert Putnam, the Harvard professor and sociologist, returns to his home town of Port Clinton, Ohio - a working class community on the shores of Lake Erie. He seeks out his former classmates who graduated high school in the 1950s and 1960s to see how they fared in life. For the most part, this cohort did quite well - surpassing their parents in terms of affluence, education and career success. Putnam attributes this to good schools, good parenting, community support structures, and plentiful jobs. Even those who did not go on to higher education could find decent work at the local factory, earning enough to support a family in relative comfort. There was a definite path a secure middle class life - The American Dream.

But those who came later, who graduated (or at least attended) high school in the 1980s and 1990s, are not doing so well. The factory shut down in 1979. Those jobs remaining in Port Clinton pay minimum wage. Putnam findsfragmented families, dashed dreams, and - all too often - substance abuse which often led to conflict with local law enforcement. Oh, for a lucky few who inherited or accumulated wealth life is wonderful with private schools, gated communities, golf outings, etc. But the chasm separating those lucky few families and the rest appears unbridgeable. For most, the path to the secure middle class existence Putnam remembers from is youth is blocked.

What happened? Many things have brought us to this point: globalization has wrecked manufacturing in the US, depriving lower-skilled workers of decent paying jobs; trade unions have for the most part been beaten back, economic policy - starting with the Reagan administration - transferred wealth from the working class to the super-rich, public schools - which provided Putnam and his classmates with good academic skills - have been starved of resources. The family unit, a source of stability and security when Putnam was growing up in Port Clinton, has been torn apart for many poor Americans - irrespective of race.

Susanne Gaschke mentions Putnam's book while pointing out the importance of family cohesion in dealing with poverty in Germany in her piece in Die Welt: Die neue Armut in Deutschland:

Germany (still) has a stronger social safety net than the United States, so through public education and apprentice programs there are still opportunities for kids from poor families to achieve a middle class life. But, as Susanne Gaschke points out, there are signs that the gap between the poor and affluent is growing wider:

April 10, 2015

The influential anti-American Web site NachDenkSeiten is inviting its readers to a forum on the United States and its pernicious influence on Germany and Europe: "Europa im Visier der Supermacht USA“ ("Europe in the Cross-Hairs of Superpower USA"). You can access the invitation here.

Albrecht Müller, editor of the NachDenkSeiten, exhorts his faithful readers to attend this forum, since it deals with "the central issue of our time" ("ein zentrales Problem unserer Zeit").

The point about Americans "taking over" German businesses ("Übernahme hiesiger Betriebe") is especially silly when one considers that far more German groups are buying up American companies (see my blog post:"German companies on a US shopping spree" ) in view of the favorable economic growth outlook for the US economy. Yet I am not aware of any anti-German conferences planned anywhere in the United States.

At the May 2 forum, Herr Muller wants to discuss a several items, including a recent speech made by the playwright Rolf Hochhuth about how the United States is doing everything it can to provoke World War III with Russia, which will result in a nuclear annihilation of Germany. His evidence? US troops were involved in a Nato maneuver in Estonia, close to the Russian border. No mention of Russian provocation in sending troops and weapons into eastern Ukraine - nor, of course, of the military Anschluss of Crimea. You can read Hochhuth's bizarre speech here.

Another important document Muller wants to discuss is a letter from Lt.Colonel Marek Obrtel,M.D, a reservist in the Czech army. The letter is basically a rant against the United States and against NATO, which Dr. Obrtel calls a "criminal organization" : (note, grammatical errors contained in the translation)

Though when I found about about the true purpose of NATO and how it serves the USA, how it is used to enforce their own power concerns, how much innocent blood NATO has on their hands I decided to sacrifice my own promising military career and left the army. When (again) purposely ignited conflict in Ukraine [...] escalated I decided to return all my NATO medals and called this organization criminal.

Yes, this is indeed a letter that demands serious attention.

The forum will conclude with a breakout session concerning the glorious cultural and economic blossoming of Crimea since its liberation by Russia and its brilliant leader - Vladimir Putin. (/snark)

April 05, 2015

I was able to watch the terrific remake of Nackt unter Wölfen ("Naked Among Wolves") on the ARD Mediathek Portal. This was a remake of the 1963 GDR film Nackt unter Wölfen directed by Frank Beyer which achieved international acclaim. That film, in turn, was based on the 1958 novel of the same title by Bruno Apitz, based on his experience as a prisoner on the Buchenwald concentration camp. Aptiz's novel was required reading by all high school students in the GDR. The film (and novel) cover the final days and liberation of the camp in April 1945. The American forces are quickly advancing from the west and the SS officers in charge of the camp of roughly 25,000 prisoners - mostly Jews, but also communist party members - are weighing their options. Do they evacuate the camp? Or simply murder all the prisoners and try to hide the evidence of their crime? Meanwhile, a 3-year old Jewish boy from Poland has been smuggled into the camp, and the inmates deliberate on what to do with the child. The boy becomes a symbol of hope and resistance - he must be protected, kept alive and hidden from the SS at all cost.

In the 1963 version of Nackt unter Wölfen (which I haven't seen) the communist inmates organize a prisoner revolt with smuggled weapons and liberate the camp themselves. In the final scene the communist leader exhorts the inmate to storm the camp gate, which they do, joyfully singing the Internationale. In the 2015 version - which is more accurate historically - the SS abandoned the camp ahead of the advancing Americans. The head Kapo - in an almost hushed, reticent tone - informs the prisoners over the loudspeaker that they are free. One by one- zombie-like - the traumatized inmates stagger into the daylight. The newer ARD version also doesn't hold back on scenes of human degradation, inhuman brutality and torture (parental guidance strongly suggested for younger viewers).

I do hope that a version with English subtitles will soon be available in the US on Netflix, just as we now can watch the made for German television series Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter.